Sunday, June 10, 2012

Amman, Jordan — like several other ancient cities, including Rome — traditionally sat on seven hills. The city long ago expanded far beyond that. In Amman, man has inhabited these hills for 12,000 years. At the center is the Citadel hill. It is dominated by the remnants of a Roman temple to Hercules. The view from here looks across a steep valley to a 5,000-seat amphitheater carved into an adjacent hill. At the base of the Citadel — between the hill and the amphitheater — Uriah the Hittite met his demise when King David ordered his army to pull back and leave the Hittite to die after David’s affair with Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba.